51% of trust income to wealthy

A NEW report using Australian Taxation Office data says the equivalent of 21.6% of national income is run through trusts.

Written by The Australia Institute senior research fellow David Richardson, the report says ATO figures show there are 823,448 trusts with assets of $3.1 trillion and total business income of $349.2 billion.

People with taxable incomes of more than $500,000 accounted for just 0.43% of the population but received 51% of all trust distributions. The 96% of Aussies earning under $180,000 received just 13% of trust income.

Institute executive director Ben Oquist said: "Huge amounts of money are being washed through trusts ... yet they remain the domain of a small number of people, most of whom are very wealthy.

"The Henry review into taxation recommended updating and rewriting the rules around trusts but that advice has, to date, been largely ignored ... this is an area ripe for reform.”